Chapter 59 Being a Teacher

No one knew who spread the news, but the news that Liu Yinyin taught Liu Zhizhi to read and write suddenly spread throughout the village.

Most of the villagers are poor and uneducated.

But most people actually have awe for those who study, so if conditions permit, who wouldn’t want to send their children to school?

Even if you get an education, you may not necessarily be able to find a job or become a city dweller, but you will not be illiterate and not know a single word when you go out.

So, someone came to Liu Yinyin and asked her to help teach the children at home. There were no special requirements, as long as the children could recognize words and count.

Of course, the people who came would definitely feel embarrassed to let Liu Yinyin teach them for free, so they said they could give some money, eggs or food as a reward.

Liu Yinyin: “…”

She knew that the villagers would not be so honest as to hand over all their food.

But Liu Yinyin refused them all in the end. It wasn’t because she couldn’t teach, but because the conditions didn’t allow it.

First of all, Liu Yinyin's house is so small that there is no room for her to teach her children.

Secondly, she has to take care of the children and breastfeed them, so she really doesn't have the time.

Also, although children today are not as precious as in later generations, they are still not without love and care.

If something really happened, Liu Yinyin couldn't bear the responsibility.

She thought the matter would end like this, but she didn't expect it.

A few days later, the village chief actually came to see her.

Liu Changquan sighed and said, "It would be nice if I could teach the children in the village to recognize a few words."

He had thought about opening a primary school in the village before, but because there were no teachers and no money, the plan never came to fruition.

Someone came to talk to Liu Changquan about this matter these days. He thought about it carefully and felt that it was not impossible to give it a try.

We can’t let the children in his village become illiterate like them.

Liu Yinyin was not very willing, but Liu Changquan had always taken good care of her family, so she was too embarrassed to refuse directly, so she just said, "Village Chief, there is no suitable place."

Liu Changquan said directly: "It's not the busy farming season yet. Find some people to build two mud houses. They can be completed in two or three days."

Liu Changquan thought for a moment and added, "It just so happens that the private plot next to you is vacant. If you are willing to teach, you can build two houses on that land to make it convenient for you to travel back and forth."

Liu Yinyin: “…”

Liu Changquan spoke so sincerely that she felt even more embarrassed to say no.

"But..." Liu Yinyin hesitated, "I still have to take care of the children."

Even if the village chief allowed her to take her child to class, Gu Yanyan was still young and ignorant, and if she cried it would affect others.

Liu Changquan said, "It's not a regular school. You decide the class time. If you're really too busy, you can just take a holiday."

I didn't expect these kids to have a bright future. I just wanted to teach them to recognize a few words so they wouldn't be illiterate.

Liu Changquan continued to persuade her, "It's not convenient for you to go to work now since you are taking care of the children. If you can be a teacher for the children, the village can't afford to pay you, but they can give you work points as a subsidy."

It sounds quite tempting. Being a teacher is much easier than working in the fields.

Liu Yinyin thought for a moment and made a few requests: "Village Chief, if we really want to teach the children, I have limited energy and can't take care of too many children. No more than 20 children at most. Also...they can't be too young. They must be at least six years old."

Otherwise, when the child is too young, someone will need to take care of his eating, drinking, defecating and urinating. Liu Yinyin doesn't want to take care of someone else's child. Her own one is enough.

"......No problem." Twenty is not a small number, and Liu Changquan didn't think about how big the scale would be at the beginning.

Liu Yinyin added: "The child can't be too naughty, otherwise I can't teach him."

She came from the future, so she couldn't just beat the kids up for being disobedient. It was impossible for Liu Yinyin to hit the children.

So she can't accept a child who is too naughty, she can't be the leader of the children.

Liu Changquan nodded and agreed: "If he doesn't obey, I will ask his parents to take him back."

If you don’t want to learn, then don’t learn. It’s not a big problem.

Liu Yinyin was satisfied and said, "That's fine, but the village doesn't have to take special care of me and give me work points, otherwise other people who didn't send their children here will have opinions."

If she distributes more food, others will have less food, and some people in the village will definitely object.

Besides...the harvests in the next few years were not good, so asking for work points was actually useless.

Liu Changquan was surprised and asked, "Then what do you want?"

The village was really poor, and work points were the best form of compensation he could think of.

Liu Yinyin thought for a moment and said, "How about this, whoever wants to send a child here can just give me a basket of wild vegetables every day."

Wild vegetables are everywhere in the mountains and are free, so the villagers must be very happy.

"Wild vegetables? Are you sure?" Liu Changquan's mouth twitched. He really didn't understand what Liu Yinyin was thinking.

You don’t even want work points, but you want wild vegetables?

"Yes." Liu Yinyin nodded seriously. "You know, it's not convenient for me to go to the mountains to pick wild vegetables with my child. It would be great if someone could help me."

Wild vegetables are not valuable. Liu Changquan felt that Liu Yinyin was at a disadvantage by doing this, and...

He was puzzled: "You don't have many family members, why do you need so many wild vegetables?"

Liu Yinyin explained: "I eat it myself. I have a few chickens and rabbits to feed at home. Oh, and I also want to catch a piglet to raise this year."

Liu Yinyin's family still has six laying hens and seven rabbits.

The female rabbit that was pregnant last year gave birth to a litter of five baby rabbits, all of which survived.

We have enough meat at home recently, so we have been raising it.

As for raising pigs, she had this plan, but there was no other way. If she didn't raise pigs, it would be inconvenient to eat meat in the future.

Liu Changquan thought about the situation of Liu Yinyin's family, and thought that they were not the kind of people who would lack food. Perhaps, for her, it would be more cost-effective to exchange some wild vegetables with the villagers?

Forget it, since she has taken the initiative to ask for it.

Liu Changquan couldn't push such a good thing away, so he said to her: "It's OK as long as you don't feel like you're losing out."

After the deal was settled, Liu Changquan left with satisfaction. Tomorrow he would arrange for a group of people to come and build a few classrooms.

Gu Cheng heard Liu Yinyin talking about this matter in the evening and couldn't help asking, "Can you handle it?"

He found that his wife seemed to be busy and always found something to do.

"Let's give it a try." Liu Yinyin said thoughtfully, "The people in the village are all very nice, so let's help if we can."

There are some things she can't change, but she can't stay out of it either, as she hasn't really experienced those years.

But now that I know about this, I can’t just sit there and do nothing. I hope I can help everyone in the future.